Video: NYU invents water-driven gears for machines that resist wear

Engineers at New York University have developed an innovative gear mechanism that uses fluid dynamics instead of traditional interlocking teeth to transmit motion. This new design replaces the conventional solid gear teeth, which have been used for thousands of years, with precisely directed fluid flows that engage without physical contact. Experiments involving cylinders submerged in a water-glycerol mixture demonstrated that the fluid can mimic gear teeth behavior by either pushing a second cylinder to spin in the opposite direction when close or pulling it along in the same direction when farther apart. This fluid-based approach allows for control over rotation speed and direction in ways not possible with mechanical gears. The fluid-driven gears offer significant advantages over standard gears, which are prone to jamming, breaking, or failing due to misalignment or debris. Since the fluid gears do not involve direct contact between parts, they are resistant to damage from grit or imperfections, as the fluid simply flows around obstacles. This durability and flexibility make them promising for applications such as soft robotics, where replacing hard metal